Manchester United recorded their worst defensive month since records began in December 2024.
After a short-lived steady start to the Ruben Amorim era, United’s fortunes have crashed to the ground in recent weeks. Defeated Newcastle United 2-0 on Monday they registered their fourth straight defeat in all competitions and their fifth defeat in their last six Premier League games.
In their nine games in December in all competitions, United scored a total of 18 goals. Never before in recorded history have the Red Devils conceded more in a single month, equaling their miserable tally in March 1964. Amorim admitted after the game that United fell in the relegation battle as a result of constant fighting.
Compounding United’s woes, defeat by Newcastle at Old Trafford marked a third successive league defeat at home – the first United are on such a run since 1979 – while it was also the first time United had failed to score in three successive defeats, the first time in nine years.
Amorim is already under immense pressure after failing to impress with his desire to switch the team to the 3-4-2-1 formation he previously enjoyed success with at former club Sporting CP. Before the match, he promised that he would not change his ideas.
I was hired because of that idea, and in these difficult moments if you change your mind, every coach is finished, he said.
Now, however, Amorim appears to have left the door open to potentially tweaking his preferred system.
“It’s a choice everyone has to make in football,” he said after the Newcastle defeat. “If I think this is the best thing for the team, I will continue to deliver my message.”
READ THE LATEST MAN UTD NEWS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND GOSSIP
